Jack White On Creating His Own Label, Third Man Records “It Was All An Accident”

In an interview with KROQ’s Stryker, Jack White expressed how proud he is of Third Man Records, the record label and tourist attraction he created.

“I can’t believe it man. What I’m most proud of it is that it was all just an accident,” says White. “It was just a building I wanted to get to store all of my gear. I was tired of paying rent to store all of this road gear and cases and drum sets and things for all these different bands. I had three different bands so I started accumulating a lot of gear. So, once I found this building it felt so good, it would be a good time, I’ve been wanted to release the old White Stripes 7″ [records] that I re-acquired from my old label. V2 Records had just collapsed. I was just gonna release old 45s. But it was one, two , three, it kept going.”

White describes the company’s rapid growth, “We built a store in the front, a dark room in the back, a live venue with a recording booth next to it. It’s still going. We just got the building next door. We’re expanding.. building a tunnel between the two buildings, it’s going to be incredible. It’s gonna be done in a few weeks so I can’t wait for people to see that.”

“If it makes musicians inspired about music, that makes me feel really good. And that’s the response that usually happens. It feels that we’re doing something right there.”